Child endangerment, gun charges filed after boy fatally shot in Garfield Park home
3139 W. Flournoy St. on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023 in Chicago. | Owen Ziliak/Sun-Times
Owen Ziliak/Sun-Times, Owen Ziliak/Sun-Times
A man has been charged with child endangerment in connection to the accidental fatal shooting of an 8-year-old boy earlier this month inside a Garfield Park home.
Authorities say Ramon Sumerlin, 41, left the 8-year-old boy unattended inside his home around 4:30 a.m. on Aug. 15.
The boy, Jacari Brown, was with a cousin and looking for a TV remote when they found a gun under a mattress in a home in the 3100 block of West Flournoy Street, according to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
His cousin tried to take the gun away from Jacari, and that’s when it discharged, striking the boy in the chest, police said. He was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital.
No other injuries were reported, and a weapon was recovered at the scene.
Sumerlin was arrested Monday in the Morgan Park neighborhood on the Far South Side. He was charged with felony counts of child endangerment and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon.
He was scheduled to appear in bond court Thursday.
Contributing: Sophie Sherry